These kind of idiomatic situations mean that the meanings of individual words cannot always be deduced from unrelated context. The speaker will only meet these phrases in certain contexts, often social or non-formal.

Some idiomatic phrasal verbs in context:

to get out of (doing something)

to avoid doing something

In context:

John asked me to the party, but I’m trying to get out of it

Can’t you get out of doing that?

to hang on

to wait a moment

In context:

Hang on a minute, I’ll just go and check

Can you hang on, I’m not ready yet

to be put off (by something)

to be discouraged

In context:

The horrible bed really put me off that hotel

They wanted to eat in the restaurant but were put off by the bad smell

I was going to give him the job, but I was put off by his terrible tie

to put (something) off / to put off (something)

to procrastinate/delay something

In context:

I didn’t want to do that so I put it off

I really need to do the cleaning but I keep putting it off

I put him off again because I don’t want to go

You should put off going out until you feel well again

to feel under the weather

to feel unwell or sad

to come down with something

to feel as though you are getting ill

In context:

I’m feeling under the weather. I think I may be coming down with a cold.

to work out

to decipher

In context:

The calculation was difficult but I’ve worked it out.

Did you manage to work out the answer to that problem?

to work out (verb)

OR

to have a workout (noun)

to do physical exercise

In context:

I worked out really hard with the weights and my muscles are tired now (verb)